I'm a Louisville fan, here's our scouting report, ask me anything...

[The Mad Hatter]

I keep hearing this from UofL fans over and over, so let me clarify. When most of us are making comparisons to teams like VCU, we are not saying that their overall defensive is comparable to Louisville. We all know that Louisville is much stingier in the half court. What we are comparing is simply the ability to create turnovers, because even if we have trouble scoring in against the Louisville defense (which we probably will), if we don't turn the ball over, it will limit the transition buckets available to Louisville and force them to score against our half court defense, which has been pretty stingy in its own right.

[deep3card]

This post is all over the place. Thanks for the info on Domes, I guess?

I'm not comparing a team's ability to score in transition. I'm comparing a team's ability to turn another team over.

Actually the domes section should have been another reply to a previous poster, so yeah I can see how it might have been a little spazzy looking. My entire point though was that if you try taking 28 3's like you did against Gonzaga, you're going to basically be handing us the game unless you get damn near ALL the offensive rebounds, because all those long rebounds are basically turnovers that create transition opportunities. They might not show up in the box score as a "turnover", but they work just like a live ball turnover on long defensive rebounds for teams that have speed. You might handle the press perfectly and still give up a ton of fast break points. With your penchant for turnovers against non-Louisville competition, I'm not sure that's going to work out well, unless you are hitting everything. That's how Villanova won it all, although they didn't have to play in a dome.

[deep3card]

I keep hearing this from UofL fans over and over, so let me clarify. When most of us are making comparisons to teams like VCU, we are not saying that their overall defensive is comparable to Louisville. We all know that Louisville is much stingier in the half court. What we are comparing is simply the ability to create turnovers, because even if we have trouble scoring in against the Louisville defense (which we probably will), if we don't turn the ball over, it will limit the transition buckets available to Louisville and force them to score against our half court defense, which has been pretty stingy in its own right.

Yes, but part of being stingy in the half court is being able to solve our defense while on your offense. As I said above, if you're missing a bunch of outside shots, we'll be in transition most of the game, and your half court defensive prowess is negated. Much like our defense is predicated on our ability to make shots (and free throws) to set up the press. Which is why we can struggle when we don't hit free throws, because we can't set up the press when missing the 2nd of 2 or front ends of 1 and 1's, your defense will only be strong if you're offensively strong and aren't missing outside shots.

[SubGod22]

Except for the fact that we do a damn good job of recovering and preventing fast break opportunities to our opponents.

And I'm sick of Card fans telling us we have to hit from outside to beat them. That's bull. We typically don't beat teams because of our outside shooting. Lumping us in with the thinking that all nonBcS schools have to hit from outside to hang with the big boys is so irrititating. We did well against Gonzaga that way, but outside of that, it's been our inside game and attacking the basket that's won games for us.

I also like how they think their D is so superior to everyone else that any comparison made to teams who turn people over is found to be crazy talk.

Some of the posters have been fine, but I'll be happy when this game is over and some of these morons go away. For the most part, they haven't been much, if any, different than Ohio State fans.

[Cdizzle]

Yes, but part of being stingy in the half court is being able to solve our defense while on your offense. As I said above, if you're missing a bunch of outside shots, we'll be in transition most of the game, and your half court defensive prowess is negated. Much like our defense is predicated on our ability to make shots (and free throws) to set up the press. Which is why we can struggle when we don't hit free throws, because we can't set up the press when missing the 2nd of 2 or front ends of 1 and 1's, your defense will only be strong if you're offensively strong and aren't missing outside shots.

Ummmmm, ditto? You really need to learn to apply your reasoning to both sides of the same argument.

[jdmee]

This is the 5th game this NCAA where going into the game WSU was supposedly the slower and less athletic team, even La Salle was going to surprise up with their speed. The 4 previous games WSU ended up bigger, stronger and faster than was expected. Welcome to game 5.

[Shockeriffic]

Actually the domes section should have been another reply to a previous poster, so yeah I can see how it might have been a little spazzy looking. My entire point though was that if you try taking 28 3's like you did against Gonzaga, you're going to basically be handing us the game unless you get damn near ALL the offensive rebounds, because all those long rebounds are basically turnovers that create transition opportunities. They might not show up in the box score as a "turnover", but they work just like a live ball turnover on long defensive rebounds for teams that have speed. You might handle the press perfectly and still give up a ton of fast break points. With your penchant for turnovers against non-Louisville competition, I'm not sure that's going to work out well, unless you are hitting everything. That's how Villanova won it all, although they didn't have to play in a dome.

In the games that we lost coaches were sending every available player to the defensive glass at the expense of transition baskets. Maybe Siva and Smith are fast enough to battle for an offensive rebound and then beat our guards down the floor but I doubt that. If Louisville sends too many players to get transition baskets then you will get destroyed on the glass. Louisville only ranks 236th in defensive rebounding percentage. That and three point shooting are the only weaknesses for your team. When Louisville beat Colorado St. did they still get transition baskets off missed shots or was that all from turnovers?

[deep3card]

So comparing games against other teams that get a lot of turnovers is asinine? That doesn't make any sense to me. The point of that was to illustrate that pressure defense doesn't bother this team.

Also it sounds like Louisville is used to shooting poorly in a dome and you expect Wichita State to also shoot poorly in a dome. Sounds like that effect will hurt both teams equally.

Yes, very much so. Where the game will be won is in the paint, and where I think we have a distinct advantage. You had to neutralize Olynik with 14 3's. If you hit 14 3's against us, I will gladly come over here and congratulate you afterward, because you will absolutely deserve it. If you can't hit outside shots, you have to challenge Dieng, and my guess is that we're going to run primarily matchup zone to force you to shoot from the outside and to protect him from getting into foul trouble. If we can get into the paint at will as we have all tourney, then it will be a long day for the Shockers, unless you hit 10+ 3's, which is hard to do. We've proven we can win by 20+ points while hitting two 3's all game. If you can force us into jumpers also, then it's anyone's game, and probably a really ugly one.

[The Mad Hatter]

Yes, very much so. Where the game will be won is in the paint, and where I think we have a distinct advantage. You had to neutralize Olynik with 14 3's. If you hit 14 3's against us, I will gladly come over here and congratulate you afterward, because you will absolutely deserve it. If you can't hit outside shots, you have to challenge Dieng, and my guess is that we're going to run primarily matchup zone to force you to shoot from the outside and to protect him from getting into foul trouble. If we can get into the paint at will as we have all tourney, then it will be a long day for the Shockers, unless you hit 10+ 3's, which is hard to do. We've proven we can win by 20+ points while hitting two 3's all game. If you can force us into jumpers also, then it's anyone's game, and probably a really ugly one.

Team A averages 4.6 blocks per game
Team B averages 4.3 blocks per game

Player A averages 4.2 blocks per 40 minutes
Player B averages 3.3 blocks per 40 minutes

Tell me who is who.

BTW, we beat Pitt by 18 while shooting 2-20 from 3.

[Shockeriffic]

Team A averages 4.6 blocks per game
Team B averages 4.3 blocks per game

Player A averages 4.2 blocks per 40 minutes
Player B averages 3.3 blocks per 40 minutes

Tell me who is who.

BTW, we beat Pitt by 18 while shooting 2-20 from 3.

This big difference there is that Dieng averages 3.2 fouls per 40 minutes and Orupke averages 5.3. Wait, why am I helping out the Louisville fans?

[Cdizzle]

Yes, very much so. Where the game will be won is in the paint, and where I think we have a distinct advantage. You had to neutralize Olynik with 14 3's. If you hit 14 3's against us, I will gladly come over here and congratulate you afterward, because you will absolutely deserve it. If you can't hit outside shots, you have to challenge Dieng, and my guess is that we're going to run primarily matchup zone to force you to shoot from the outside and to protect him from getting into foul trouble. If we can get into the paint at will as we have all tourney, then it will be a long day for the Shockers, unless you hit 10+ 3's, which is hard to do. We've proven we can win by 20+ points while hitting two 3's all game. If you can force us into jumpers also, then it's anyone's game, and probably a really ugly one.

So, we've finally moved past steals to blocks. Good. A cursory look at the stat sheet shows that WSU has 14 more blocked shots than Louisville.

We've also added that WSU cannot win without shooting well from 3 (you know, cause they are a mid-major that can't match up athletically). WSU is shooting 1% better than Louisville from 3 on the season. And our tournament 3PT% is representative of those season statistics.

[deep3card]

When Louisville beat Colorado St. did they still get transition baskets off missed shots or was that all from turnovers?

It was a mixed bag of both. We also out rebounded the best rebounding (or is it rebounding margin?) team in the country in that game.

For those fans tired of hearing that you have to shoot from long range to win, how exactly do you plan on beating a matchup zone? It's not like Syracuse's zone where the FT line is always wide open, and I guarantee you that when playing in that large of an open environment that we're going to play zone primarily, or until you've proven that you can shoot it out there.

[The Mad Hatter]

It was a mixed bag of both. We also out rebounded the best rebounding (or is it rebounding margin?) team in the country in that game.

For those fans tired of hearing that you have to shoot from long range to win, how exactly do you plan on beating a matchup zone? It's not like Syracuse's zone where the FT line is always wide open, and I guarantee you that when playing in that large of an open environment that we're going to play zone primarily, or until you've proven that you can shoot it out there.

Well considering that in 3 of your 5 losses on the year your opponents shot under 30% from 3, I'm guessing that we would try to beat it the same way those teams did?

[1979Shocker]

Comparing any of those teams to us is asinine. Because they don't have the offensive firepower to make you pay in transition like Louisville does. As Coach Pitino said, our losses have come from a lack of mental focus (Particularly the ND 5 OT game and the Villanova game). I can't imagine any team being unfocused at this point in the season.

I don't think you're going to be shaking in your boots at all. A confident team that already beat a Big East team and a Big 10 team so far in the tourney shouldn't be fearful of anyone they play at this point.

Shooting in a dome can possibly make a HUGE difference if you're not used to it. I'm nowhere near a decent athlete, but I've played basketball competitively since I was 13 (37 now). As primarily an outside shooter, I can tell you that your vision of the basket is incredibly important, and while domes try to put dark backgrounds up to help with shot vision, it won't work when the dome is utilizing the entire stadium for seating. If you look at stats for all of the Final Four teams of the last 8-10 seasons, there are very few that shoot their average % when playing in a dome versus anywhere else, unless you already have experience in a dome, like Syracuse. We shot 2-13 from 3 point range vs Duke, and 4-13 vs Oregon at the Indianapolis Colts stadium, and we shoot 33% on average.

We didn't have any problem shooting at the Syracuse dome a few years back.

[deep3card]

So, we've finally moved past steals to blocks. Good. A cursory look at the stat sheet shows that WSU has 14 more blocked shots than Louisville.

We've also added that WSU cannot win without shooting well from 3 (you know, cause they are a mid-major that can't match up athletically). WSU is shooting 1% better than Louisville from 3 on the season. And our tournament 3PT% is representative of those season statistics.

The comment has nothing to do with the conference status, but since you guys get that a lot, I can understand why you assume it. It's about the style of defense you'll be facing. If you have a strong passing frontcourt with good hands (not what I've heard at all about your C, btw), then you can fare well against our D, as the teams we lost to this season had.